1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle toy which can travel at high speed upon a rough road such as in off-road driving, and more particularly to a vehicle toy of this kind such as a tank toy and like vehicle toys provided with caterpillars.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional remote-controlled toy, there are various types of off-road travelling products which may be classified into two types of vehicle toys: four-wheel drive (i.e. 4 WD) vehicle toys each of which drives four wheels; and tank toys (i.e. war-vehicle toys) provided with caterpillars and the like. In a four-wheel drive vehicle toy, since the power from a drive motor is transmitted to its four wheels, more wheels can be driven in the four-wheel drive vehicle toy than in a conventional two-wheel drive vehicle toy. As a result, the four-wheel drive vehicle toy has a good roadability. Nevertheless, the four-wheel drive vehicle toy is often stuck in the sands, grass and the like. Further, the vehicle toy often suffers from its complex drive mechanism. On the other hand, in a tank toy and the like provided with caterpillars, since the tank toy is rich in caterpillar bearing area, the tank toy is not often stuck. In making a turn on the spot, the tank toy has its opposite caterpillars driven in opposite directions to produce a difference in rotation between the opposite caterpillars, which difference in rotation is used by the tank toy to change its travelling direction, and, therefore, the tank toy suffers from an increased load applied on its motor by the caterpillars, which increases battery power consumption of the tank toy and gives an operator of the tank toy a curious control feeling different from that of the conventional four-wheeled vehicle toy.
Namely, in the vehicle toy such as tank toys and the like provided with the conventional caterpillars, since the caterpillar bearing area of the vehicle toy is large, such vehicle toy suffers from the increased load on its motor (which load increases the battery power consumption), cannot travel at high speed, and makes a turn on the spot so that the vehicle cannot be controlled and make a turn in the same manner as that of the conventional wheeled toy.